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I will until my last breath remember the past and the struggles my generation made to build this country into a civilised state for the working and middle classes. If we are to survive as a progressive nation we have to start tending to our living because the wounded: our poor, our underemployed youth, our … Continue reading “I will until my last breath”
This is more as an aide-memoire for myself but you might be amused. Click on the image and make sure you have a warm and strong Brownian Motion producer by your side. Related posts: Jonathan Gems on the abolition of the UKFC The Top 5 Dream Jobs #top5dreamjobs Let go of the old… Here’s to … Continue reading “The Box of Crazy”
This is more as an aide-memoire for myself but you might be amused. Click on the image and make sure you have a warm and strong Brownian Motion producer by your side.
Go to PS², Donegall Street, Belfast on Friday 8th November. And more. Related posts: Minecraft Pi Edition Snippets Remote Operator Henry Rollins at Vicar Street Amazing companies are built on free.
Go to PS², Donegall Street, Belfast on Friday 8th November. And more.
The latest blog on OffTheRecord starts off with: Sorry Mr Haass, there are no quick fixes to Northern Ireland’s problems and ends with: Is it a depressing thought that we have to turn to America to sort out our problems? Will we suddenly wake up, just in time to celebrate the winter solstice, in a … Continue reading “No quick fixes for Northern Ireland? I call bullshit.”
The latest blog on OffTheRecord starts off with:
Sorry Mr Haass, there are no quick fixes to Northern Ireland’s problems
and ends with:
Is it a depressing thought that we have to turn to America to sort out our problems? Will we suddenly wake up, just in time to celebrate the winter solstice, in a Northern Ireland re-born? I would argue not, if only because the proposals themselves are vaguer than a typical Northern Irish weather forecast.
But I think there’s a problem with the definitions here. Yes, it is to our everlasting shame that we require outsiders to come in and fix our problems but that’s because of the three main factions in Northern Ireland, only two of them have any sort of voice. If you’re a moderate or extreme nationalist, you have two parties in government. If you’re a moderate or extreme unionist, there are three parties in government. But if you’re not interested in pandering to the homophobic, mediaeval attitudes of the incumbent theocracy, then who do you turn to? You’re certainly not represented in the Executive and yet surveys show you to be the massive majority. So why are the inmates running the lunatic asylum?
Northern Ireland has problems, yes. A capitulation to extremists won’t make anything better. Behind the facades of the First Ministers, nothing has changed. The same petty rivalries are played out day after day on Good Morning Ulster and the Nolan Show. Tune in any day to find some archaic theocrat reminiscing about the days when you could just burn heretics.
And yet who is Dr Haass spending his time with? Would it be with the disenfranchised and mostly silent (and sickened) majority or is it with these minorities who command the power of street violence? Of course it’s the latter. It’s been 15 years and we’ve made precious little progress. Maybe the caretakers we have appointed should be changed?
If we take his mission of dealing with parades, flags, the past and the kitchen sink as a massive issue, then we will end this process no better off. We’ll just have to wait for another decade for another US envoy to turn up and make everyone feel better for a while. We will have plenty more opportunities for our fame-hungry politicians to prostrate themselves before the great white saviours. The cargo cult of the USA just highlights the failings of our own society. Our politicians are fascinated by the glamour of it all and they will miss the point again and again but make no mistake – behind closed doors do you think that the US upper echelons welcome the visits of Martin and Peter? Or would it be more realistic to think that they roll their eyes and put on their Ps and Qs because, ultimately, someone has to be nice to the troglodytes who still think it’s okay to kill each other based on which street you live in and the colour of your school blazer. It is a testimony to the diplomacy of US Envoys and their Presidents that they are so gracious with their time.
Yes, Northern Ireland has problems that mammoth in nature. These pachyderms of culture are forcing us to blunder down streets that no-one with any sense should tread. Yet we have to remember how to deal with challenges that seem elephantine in nature.
From the Loop: At #3ddojo we have moved on from Blender and onto Maya. The problem being that Autodesk doesn’t seem to have a programme designed for parents and their kids. The best solution seems to be to sign up for a course at a University or College and use their really friendly education support … Continue reading ““So, you’re telling me that what we did this morning is how they make characters in movies? Like, for real?””
From the Loop:
At #3ddojo we have moved on from Blender and onto Maya. The problem being that Autodesk doesn’t seem to have a programme designed for parents and their kids. The best solution seems to be to sign up for a course at a University or College and use their really friendly education support programme.
Today at the Dojo, Shaun led a full house through modelling an arm and hand in Maya. The results were simply breathtaking considering most of the attendees were new to it. We were ably assisted by Greg Maguire (Professor of Animation at the University of Ulster and some of his undergraduates. The efforts of individuals within the industry to reforge our future are to be applauded.
And the kids, well, they enjoy it. And they can’t believe they’re working on the same tools used to make computer games and movies. That’s the icing on the cake.
This is an illustration of a modern family. Taking into account that my partner has a 3G device, my son has his own 3G device and I provide tethering to the rest of the family as well (which has used 64 GB this period so far and I’m only 2/3 of the way through that … Continue reading “Modern Family”
This is an illustration of a modern family.
Taking into account that my partner has a 3G device, my son has his own 3G device and I provide tethering to the rest of the family as well (which has used 64 GB this period so far and I’m only 2/3 of the way through that billing period), it seems to me that a family consisting of a mom, pop, two kids and two step-kids could easily use three quarters of a terabyte of data in 30 days. That’s 250 GB in 10 days. 25GB a day. And that’s just during their waking hours.
This comes from nearly everyone but me having a long list of YouTube subscriptions. My usage is mostly Netflix (and an episode or two of Breaking Bad a night isn’t going to break the bank).
It’s also worth saying that the bandwidth we’re using is restricted by the provision. We often see quality issues on YouTube and Netflix. Latency is often high. It would be fair to say that we’re at the top end of the broadband users but that’s what a modern family is.
The demand for this content and the demand for it to be ever higher quality will push our broadband demands though the roof. Is our infrastructure ready for that?
Noah spent yesterday afternoon and evening putting together a short animation with camera control, rigging, motion blur and textures. This was put together using Blender 3D which he’s been learning at the 3D Dojo in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This is how kids use their mid-term holiday if you give them the right tools. Noah was … Continue reading “Noah (8) does a Minecraft animation”
Noah spent yesterday afternoon and evening putting together a short animation with camera control, rigging, motion blur and textures. This was put together using Blender 3D which he’s been learning at the 3D Dojo in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This is how kids use their mid-term holiday if you give them the right tools.
Noah was amused that “in my day” we didn’t even have cameras to do stop motion animation. We had to write little pictures in the corners of notepads and animate them by flicking them quickly. These days he has the entire gamut of animation software to try things out.
This is why we need to do more of this across the region because the kind of thinking that got us to this place will not get us out of this. We need to re-brand Northern Ireland as a “creation nation” or an “innovation nation”. That’s the sort of rhyming that gets the PR truck running.
So, watch what else comes out of 3D Dojo. We have some of the best minds in the country. We have some of the best creatives in the world. And, perhaps for good or bad, the only way is up.
From here: Yeah, I’d play that. Related posts: Piracy dooms Mac Game Devs. 9/100 How I Find Blogging Ideas Contemporal, Cospatial and Connected Steam – draconian DRM that makes Apple look open
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After a really fun Civic Conversation earlier this year, Paul Bower volunteered to do some visualisations of some of the themes. I’m delighted with this one. @cimota I've re-presentd your excellent eg. of how certain conversational introductions carry a context of their own pic.twitter.com/2qC7fSvReX — Paul Bower (@paul_bower) October 24, 2013 These words all mean … Continue reading “The Context of Conversation”
After a really fun Civic Conversation earlier this year, Paul Bower volunteered to do some visualisations of some of the themes. I’m delighted with this one.
@cimota I've re-presentd your excellent eg. of how certain conversational introductions carry a context of their own pic.twitter.com/2qC7fSvReX
— Paul Bower (@paul_bower) October 24, 2013
These words all mean the same thing. But depending on the who or then when or the where, they have vastly differing meanings.
